The development in South America had led to degradation of the environment, namely, deforestation in the Amazon Basin. Due to the increase in population, forests were cleared for development projects such as factories and transport facilities, housing and industrial needs. To cater to increase in population, many people from north east of Brazil were resettled into the cleared forest land and 100ha of land was given with a town built every 100km interval to serve the settlement. Vast tracks of forests were cleared to make way for the settlements. To build road and transport facilities such as the 6000km Trans-amazon highway, more forests were destroyed to construct this highway that connects the interior of amazon basin to cities on Atlantic coast, making the forest more accessible. The rapidly growing population also led to an increase in demand for firewood as fuel.

1/4 of the cleared land was also given...